I have always had an on-and-off relationship with Twitter. I just could not figure it out. I found it boring and tiresome and even senseless to a point.

About a week ago I worked on a project interviewing some people and discovered how tweeting has evolved. So I revisited my dormant account and revived it. Tried out something along the lines of what I have learned from my informants, and then...

I finally found a real use for this social media --- which actually has nothing to do with being social at all.

It became a confidant and a true trail of my thoughts, feelings, and movements through a day. With the settings on private and the followers allowed by approval. I was not keen on an audience but I appreciated the outlet. Short snippets, at-the-moment, collated, and saved for easy reviewing later on.

It was something to "talk" to that was somehow "alive" without it being needy or intrusive. It was like a version of being in a cafe filled with people but with every one intent on his or her own business.

​It got me through the worst of my last project during which I was nearly sleepless for four nights.

Then as I progressed, I realised it is also a perfect platform for gathering seeds. A quick dance of the fingers on the keyboard and it is there, saved, posted, waiting for later when it could be planted somewhere else.

How is it different or better than, say, a Field Notes notebook on-hand dedicated to tracking the trail of a day? For me, it works WITH the Field Notes. Since I am on the computer for most of the time, it is easier to shift windows or tabs than switching to long-hand. The shift could be jarring especially when I am in the middle of a dayjob report -- I cannot risk the loss of momentum. The Field Notes is there for when I do not have access to wifi or I am on an offline day.

I also have to repeat that aspect of expressing myself to something "alive". For my part I feel it as a way of speaking to the universe more than a specific audience of people. I think it is even a kind of ritual for me, of putting thoughts and inner prayers out there into the "cybervoid", for lack of access to grassy fields beneath star-studded skies to shout out to. Does it make sense? Do you get what I mean? In my head I see a galaxy of multiverses picking up my words and sending back replies in one synchronicity or another.

It is also very useful in working through a decision or a dilemma. I get to a solution one 140-letter thought at a time. I am forced to be clear. I am forced to be certain. I am forced to get to the heart of the matter sooner than I would if I had been given too much space to ramble and beat around the bushes.

It gives me a very good picture of where my day has gone. Whether I have indeed spent it wisely or wasted it. And when I scan the whole continuity of it, reading about the turns and twists, I also learn about my own patterns, my habits, the little tricks I play on myself. Definitely very useful for getting out of ruts and vicious cycles.